Teat Morphology Characterization With 3D Imaging

Abstract

The objective of this study was to visualize, in a novel way, the morphological characteristics of bovine teats to gain a better understanding of the detailed teat morphology. We applied silicone casting and 3D digital imaging in order to obtain a more detailed image of the teat structures than that seen in previous studies. Teat samples from 65 dairy cows over 12 months of age were obtained from cows slaughtered at an abattoir. The teats were classified according to the teat condition scoring used in Finland and the lengths of the teat canals were measured. Silicone molds were made from the external teat surface surrounding the teat orifice and from the internal surface of the teat consisting of the papillary duct, Fürstenberg's rosette, and distal part of the teat cistern. The external and internal surface molds of 35 cows were scanned with a 3D laser scanner. The molds and the digital 3D models were used to evaluate internal and external teat surface morphology. A number of measurements were taken from the silicone molds. The 3D models reproduced the morphology of the teats accurately with high repeatability. Breed didn't correlate with the teat classification score. The rosette was found to have significant variation in its size and number of mucosal folds. The internal surface morphology of the rosette did not correlate with the external surface morphology of the teat implying that it is relatively independent of milking parameters that may impact the teat canal and the external surface of the teat.

The Mammary Microenvironment in Mastitis in Humans, Dairy Ruminants, Rabbits and Rodents: A One Health Focus

“…Located at the proximal end of the bovine teat canal (Fig. 3 ), the Fürstenberg’s rosette (FR) is a small region between the streak canal and the teat cistern which has 4–18 folds and is 2–11 mm in width, [ 46 ]. It is not clear whether the FR solely forms an integral component of the physical barrier of the teat or whether it has a more specific immunological role.…”

Estimating the amount of collagen and elastic fibres in bovine teats

“…The number of mucosal folds in the Fürstenberg's rosette in histological cross-sections varied between 5 and 14 (mean 7.84). The number of folds in the same teats did not differ significantly between the histological and silicone model samples (4-18 (mean 7.59;Vesterinen et al, (2015); p = .11).…”

“…Tissue types were analysed from 19 milking Ayrshire and Holstein cows slaughtered at a single Finnish slaughterhouse. The examined cows were part of a larger data set that was previously used to characterize teat morphology with 3D imaging (Vesterinen et al., 2015). During the analyses, certain samples were excluded due to various technical or tissue quality problems (foldings, tears) apparent only after completion of the histological process.…”

“…Tissue types were analysed from 19 milking Ayrshire and Holstein cows slaughtered at a single Finnish slaughterhouse. The examined cows were part of a larger data set that was previously used to characterize teat morphology with 3D imaging (Vesterinen et al, 2015).…”

“…Most of the examined histological samples were taken from Ayrshire cows (44/49 for elastic fibres and 56/62 for collagen fibres). Slides were also used to count the number of mucosal folds in the Fűrstenberg's rosette for comparison with the number of macroscopically visible folds in the silicone models of the same teats (Vesterinen et al, 2015). This microscopic and macroscopic comparison included all four teats from ten cows.…”